HONG KONG
Qing bowl fetches US$30.4m
An extremely rare Qing Dynasty bowl made for emperor Kangxi (康熙) yesterday fetched US$30.4 million at auction, Sotheby’s said. The bowl, just under 6 inches (14.7cm) in diameter, is decorated with falangcai (琺瑯彩) — painted enamels combining Chinese and Western techniques — and flowers, including daffodils, which are not typically depicted on Chinese porcelain. The bowl, said to have been used by the emperor in the early 18th century, was sold within five minutes to an unnamed phone bidder from the “Greater China” region, Sotheby’s Asia chairman Nicolas Chow (仇國仕) said. “This is the absolute finest example to exist. There are only three examples altogether that use this beautiful pink [background],” he said.
PAKISTAN
IS attacks Christian family
The militant group Islamic State (IS) yesterday claimed responsibility for killing four members of a Christian family in the southwest. A statement issued by the group claimed that Islamic State militants fired on the group of Christians as they were traveling on Monday in the city of Quetta, killing four. The family was traveling in a rickshaw when armed men on a motorcycle intercepted them and opened fire. “It appears to have been a targeted attack,” provincial police official Moazzam Jah Ansari said. “It was an act of terrorism.” The attack came a day after the Christian community celebrated Easter.
SOUTH KOREA
Park verdict to be broadcast
The Seoul Central District Court yesterday said it would allow a rare live broadcast of the verdict at the trial of disgraced former president Park Geun-hye later this week. Park was arrested last year on a slew of corruption charges after being removed from office following months of huge rallies calling for her ouster. Prosecutors are demanding a 30-year prison term if the court finds her guilty. The court said it decided to allow the hearing to be televised live in consideration of public interests. It would mark the first broadcast for a verdict at the trial of a district court, though trials at higher-level courts have been broadcast.
SAUDI ARABIA
Spouse spying banned
The government on Monday announced that “spying” on your spouse’s phone is now a criminal offense potentially punishable by a hefty fine — and a year in jail. “Married individuals planning to spy on their spouse in Saudi Arabia will need to think twice, because such an activity could potentially attract a fine of 500,000 riyals [US$133,000], along with a prison term for a year,” read an English-language statement released by the information ministry. The provision, part of a new anti-cybercrime law that came into force last week, is meant to “protect morals of individuals and society and protect privacy,” it said.
INDONESIA
Oil spill sparks emergency
The government has declared a state of emergency around a port on Borneo island, officials said yesterday, after a large oil spill and fire killed four people at the weekend. Disaster mitigation officials were able to control the blaze in the port city of Balikpapan, but were still working to contain the spill, which started on Saturday and spread over an area of about 12km2. “We have warned the public not to carry out activities that could spark fires,” said Suryanto, head of the city’s environmental agency. State-owned energy firm Pertamina said it was investigating where the oil had originated and that its underwater pipeline in the area did not have any leaks.
Showcasing phallus-shaped portable shrines and pink penis candies, Japan’s annual fertility festival yesterday teemed with tourists, couples and families elated by its open display of sex. The spring Kanamara Matsuri near Tokyo features colorfully dressed worshipers carrying a trio of giant phallic-shaped objects as they parade through the street with glee. The festival, as legend has it, honors a local blacksmith in the Edo Period (1603-1868) who forged an iron dildo to break the teeth of a sharp-toothed demon inhabiting a woman’s vagina that had been castrating young men on their wedding nights. A 1m black steel phallus sits in the courtyard of
HIGH HOPES: The power source is expected to have a future, as it is not dependent on the weather or light, and could be useful for places with large desalination facilities A Japanese water plant is harnessing the natural process of osmosis to generate renewable energy that could one day become a common power source. The possibility of generating power from osmosis — when water molecules pass from a less salty solution to a more salty one — has long been known. However, actually generating energy from that has proved more complicated, in part due the difficulty of designing the membrane through which the molecules pass. Engineers in Fukuoka, Japan, and their private partners think they might have cracked it, and have opened what is only the world’s second osmotic power plant. It generates
JAN. 1 CLAUSE: As military service is voluntary, applications for permission to stay abroad for over three months for men up to age 45 must, in principle, be granted A little-noticed clause in sweeping changes to Germany’s military service policy has triggered an uproar after it emerged that the law requires men aged up to 45 to get permission from the armed forces before any significant stay abroad, even in peacetime. The legislation, which went into effect on Jan. 1 aims to bolster the military and demands all 18-year-old men fill out a questionnaire to gauge their suitability to serve in the armed forces, but stops short of conscription. If the “modernized” model fails to pull in enough recruits, parliament will be compelled to discuss the reintroduction of compulsory service, German
Hundreds of Filipinos and tourists flocked to a sun-bleached field north of Manila yesterday, on Good Friday, to witness one of the country’s most blood-soaked displays of religious fervor, undeterred by rising fuel prices. Scores of bare-chested flagellants with covered faces walked barefoot through the dusty streets of Pampanga Province’s San Fernando as they flogged their backs with bamboo whips in the scorching heat. Agence France-Presse (AFP) journalists said they saw devotees deliberately puncturing their skin with glass shards attached to a small wooden paddle to ensure their bleeding during the ritual, a way to atone for sins and seek miracles from
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